12AT7

A Westinghouse JG-12AT7 premium military tube. Notice the green paint on top.

Modern Russian made Mullard and Genalex brand 12AT7s. There is nothing "Mullard" or "Genalex" about them, except the names. Mullard stopped making vacuum tubes in 1982. Genalex ceased production in 1988. These are both made in the same factory in Saratov, Russia.   An original Tung-Sol 12AT7 and a modern Russian made version manufactured by New Sensor Corporation, where the Mullard and Genalex tubes were made. New Sensor acquired the Tung-Sol name in May of 2002. I get the feeling that every brand of 12AT7 made by New Sensor is the same tube with a different logo. It is interesting that the Russian tube is labeled both 12AT7W and 6201, because you don't normally see these together. They designate a higher quality ruggedized military version of the tube, used in mobile, aircraft and missile applications. They're resistant to impacts, acceleration, vibration, drastic changes in temperature and cycling on and off. Do you think the Russian 12AT7W conforms to this standard? I bought one to find out. I didn't drop it, bang on it, throw it, or put it in ice water while it was hot, but I did test it.     The first triode had a mutual conductance of 4000 micromhos, which is perfect. The second triode tested at 2400. I sent it back and asked for a tested tube as a replacement. Both triodes of the replacement tested about 3400. When questioning the poor test results, a link in the reply pointed to a spec sheet put out by Electro-Harmonix, which is actually New Sensor corp. It states the amplification factor of the tube is 45 (the actual number should be 60). It doesn't show what the tube test results should be, and because the spec sheet doesn't list the plate resistance you can't calculate the gain to verify it's really 45. Additionally, the tube is physically larger than a vintage 12AT7, and the dimensions on the spec sheet are incorrect. It seems they made up their own specifications and called it a "reissue," but it's not a 6201 or even a regular 12AT7. See the Electro-Harmonix spec sheet here. The General Electric spec sheet is here.     Gold plated pins! On the left is a used, vintage Amperex 12AT7 with gold plated pins. On the right is a Russian Genalex, also with gold plated pins. Just plugging the Russian tube into a socket scraped off the gold. It looks more like gold paint. Whatever the gold colored substance is on the Russian tube, it's probably useless. (Pictures from ebay)   Radio Shack "Realistic" brand tubes also had gold plated pins. Realistic tubes cost more, but were "guaranteed for life." For example, in 1970 a 12AT7 from Lafayette was $1.44. A Radio Shack "Lifetime" tube was $2.19, but if it went bad you got a replacement for free. That sounds like a good deal, but the guarantee didn't mean Radio Shack would replace the tube forever.     The "lifetime" was the "life of the apparatus in which it is used." Radio Shack began to offer "Lifetime" tubes when radios and televisions that used vacuum tubes were becoming obsolete. Many of these tubes weren't in service long enough to go bad, so it was a good deal - for Radio Shack. The salesman would spot you testing your tubes, and instead of coming home with a new tube for your old radio, you came home with a brand new transistorized AM/FM cassette player. By the way, $2.19 in 1970 is $17.81 in 2025.

Back in the day when tube counterfeiting was a big business (it still goes on today) you'd take an American made tube and rebrand it as a British Mullard or German Telefunkin, but never the other way around. Nobody ever rubbed off the Mullard label and stamped "Philco" on it. I find this rather amusing.

New "vintage" Mullard tube boxes. Available on ebay. Be careful when you buy a 12AT7. A $7 tube can be turned into a $70 tube with a damp rag, a rubber stamp, and a Mullard box. You can purchase boxes for almost every major brand.

I visited the Ali Express website and bought the cheapest 12AT7 I could find, a Chinese PSVANE brand labeled ECC81 (the European designation of a 12AT7). Like the Russian tube, the diameter is larger than a vintage 12AT7. (Coincidence?) The price was $13.74. The box is a little too "elegant" for my liking. I think it looks like a personal care product came in it. "Honey, I've got that rash again. Can you get me the Pissvane from the medicine cabinet?"

There is an unusual structure inside the tube. It holds up a post that has the getter ring attached to it. I went back to Ali Express to see what I had ordered, and none of their ECC81 tubes had this thing in the pictures.

Picture from Ali Express. The odd structure holding the getter is not inside the tube. Dang, none of my pictures turn out this good. How do they do it?

Now for the test! Both triodes of a new 12AT7 should read at least 4000 on the middle scale of this meter. One triode of the PSVANE tube read 2800 and the other one gave a reading of 3100, which is a little better than its Russian counterpart. A 12AT7 should read 3800 after 500 hours of use at the maximum plate voltage of 250 volts. This new one from China seems like it's been in use for a thousand hours already. PSVANE must be selling the rejects of their "premium" versions. Fortune cookie say, "Gullible man buy cheap tube." PSVANE also makes a version that they sell for over $100. Do you want to take a chance on it? Not me!

Why is the 12AT7 still being made today in Russia and China? Why would you want a new one? Of what use today is a vacuum tube designed in the 1940s for television sets? It would take FIVE BILLION of them to make a CPU used in a typical smart phone or home computer. They are used in guitar amplifiers! They are listed online as "preamp vacuum tubes." People who play guitars have driven up the price of vintage 12AT7s to the point where it became profitable to manufacture new ones, and the demand is over one million per year. Tube sellers extol the virtues of various brands when used in guitar amplifiers. One site states, "If you are looking for clarity and headroom go for grey plates, if you would like more warmth and a richer overdrive sound go with black plates!" The color of the plates makes no difference whatsoever. "Headroom" is a lack of distortion and "overdrive sound" IS distortion. These characteristics are obtained with the circuitry and controls in the amplifier, not by changing tubes that have different colors inside. What people are actually hearing when swapping tubes is the differences in the poor quality Russian and Chinese tubes.

12AT7 vacuum tubes in a modern McIntosh tube amplifier, illuminated from below with green LEDs. They are labeled "McIntosh USA" but they were actually manufactured in Russia. As far as I can figure, McIntosh is not named "McIntosh USA," so why stamp USA on the vacuum tubes? Are they are intentionally being deceptive, pulling some marketing stunt to sell an expensive amplifier?

When I need to buy a 12AT7 for my radio I want reparations from guitar players, and I want Steve Hackett to deliver the check so I can get a picture of us together so it looks like I'm his friend or something.

Like this, but the picture won't be fuzzy and instead of a CD it will be a check made out to me. Photo taken at the Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA